Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) Student Involvement
Welcome! MICA is excited to help support, foster community with, and work alongside Southwest Asian and North African students at UMD. This is a new involvement area, brought about by the years-long hard-won advocacy of the UMD student community. As a new involvement area, we are still building and learning how we will best support and advocate for the community. Contact us to help share your voice and build our foundation for the future!
What is SWANA?
SWANA refers to the region commonly referred to as the "Middle East", ranging from Morocco to Afghanistan. By using geographical language rather than political language to describe the region and it's people, “we use SWANA to speak to the diversity of our communities and to forward the most vulnerable in our liberation” (SWANA Alliance). SWANA is a “way to distinguish the region in geographical terms, rather than “political terms” as defined by the Western world” (SWANA-LA).
How can I get involved?
There are many ways to get involved with the UMD SWANA community, from joining student organizations, coursework and language opportunities, to helping plan campus-wide SWANA Heritage Month Events (inaugural SWANAHM coming April 2024!). See below to learn more.
- Subscribe to Noor News, MICA's biweekly SWANA newsletter
- Search Terplink for specific cultural, religious, and political student organizations
- UMD Faith Communities and Chaplains
- Middle East Studies Minor
- Roshan Institute for Persian Studies
- Arabic Studies and Arabic Flagship
Contact
Hana Zewdie (she/her): hzewdie@umd.edu
Del Delavari (she/her): ddelavar@umd.edu